Fairfax County Police Chief: 'American Flag Not Banned on Uniforms'

A recent flap over the wearing of American flag patches on Fairfax County Police uniforms reported on by The Washington Post appears to have been settled. FCPD sent out this news release Monday morning to clarify the situation:

Recently an internal message was sent to police commanders describing inconsistencies in articles and adornments that officers are displaying on their exterior vests. The message addressed an issue that officers were wearing unapproved items on uniforms prior to the establishment of a formal agency policy on the matter. Unfortunately, this created an unintentional perception that American flags have been banned from our uniforms.

We have clarified to officers that the American flag has not been banned from our uniforms, and in fact, the Chief of Police has always endorsed the wearing of the American flag on the uniform shirt and has extended this to include the exterior vest. Officers who choose to display an American flag on their uniform or exterior vest are encouraged to do so as long as they comply with all agency standard uniform protocols.

The Chief also directed that the Uniform Advisory Panel (UAP) will convene and will provide considerations and recommendations regarding the consistency of displaying items on the external vest. The UAP is comprised of employees from a wide variety of agency units and represents all uniforms, ensuring input from all impacted units agency-wide.

PHOTO: FCPD emblem